Collaboration

NOUN: to work jointly with others in an intellectual endeavor

August 2015

Fellow mosaic artist Yvonne Yaar has put out a call for mosiac fish on mesh to complete her mosaic mural in Toms River, New Jersey. The mural will represent large native fish made up of many, many smaller mosaic fish from artists around the world. I sent 6 fish of different sizes to be included in the mural.

For the second consecutive year, Pat Mitchell, and her work Crystal Blaze, will join an international group of mosaic artists whose works will be featured and available for purchase in an online auction benefit for Doctors Without Borders at the online auction website: www.BiddingForGood.com.

Before the online auction, there was a live preview exhibit July 2 through August 30 at the Nancy A Fox Art Gallery, located in the Providence Center for the Healing Arts, Novi, MI, and September 5 through 22 at the Northville Art House, Northville MI.

The auction raised over $17,000.

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international medical humanitarian organization which provides aid in nearly 60 countries to people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe, primarily due to armed conflict, epidemics, malnutrition, exclusion from health care, or natural disasters.

Messina Mural Project

A mosaic friend (Eve Lynch) sent out a call for mosaic artists to donate panels for a mural project at The Messina Children’s Center in South Florida. I sent this little bunny.

MOSAIC MURALS!

It began as an Internet challenge for Mosaic Artists to flex their creative mosaic muscles. The goal; create a 6″ x 6″ swirl on mesh to be mounted later. The response to the challenge was so great that the challenge originator, Lin Schorr, proposed turning the swirls into a public art project to benefit others. She worked with Providence Park Hospital in Novi, Michigan to place large mosaic murals throughout their complex. The result has been an amazing collaboration of mosaic artists from around the world. The first mural completed was called “Swirlendipity I.” Each 6 x 6 inch swirl was created by a different artist and then mailed to Lin. She mounted each swirl, created the background to tie the entire mural together, and then framed and hung the mural in the Hospital.

Swirlendipity I represents intersection and divergence, the twists and turns, that life hands each of us. By combining these divergent pieces in to a unified mural, we are reminded of our connection to one other.

>My swirl contributions to Swirlendipity I

Swirlendipity IPhoto by Lin Schorr, used with permission

There was such a rousing response to the Swirl Challenge that Lin created a second swirl mural to contain all the contributions. The second mural, Swirlendipity II, is warmer in tone and hung on a different floor in the Hospital. Swirlendipity II is a continuation of the first murals twisting and swirling journey with an emphasis on the brighter, more playful side of life, as represented by the exuberant colors of the swirls and background.

My Swirl Contribution to Swirlendipity II

Photo courtesy of Lin Schorr – used with permission

Photo courtesy of Lin Schorr – used with permission

This collaboration eventually grew well beyond swirls. Lin received permission to place four large murals (approx 4 x 6 feet each) at the elevator entrances on all 4 floors of Providence Park Hospital in Novi, Michigan. The third mural, a puzzle piece extravaganza of color is called Amuzapalooza.

Amuzapalooza is a giant puzzle. Each piece is as separate and distinct as the artist who created it, and yet the completed mural imparts a balanced, connected, and robust assemblage.

Photo courtesy of Lin Schorr – used with permissionPhoto courtesy of Lin Schorr – used with permission

Heartistry is the fourth and final mural created by a global group of mosaic artists. Each heart was created on a mesh background in the individual artists studio and then shipped to Michigan where it was incorporated into the mural along with a lavish background added by Lin Schorr.

Heartistry is perhaps the most literal of the four murals. The subjects of hearts and artistry combine into a loving tapestry of red, white, and silver to remind us of our connection to each other through the one thing we all share – a heart. It now hangs on the Cardiac floor of the hospital.

Photo courtesy of Lin Schorr – used with permissionPhoto courtesy of Lin Schorr – used with permission

I was also pleased to collaborate with Lin Schorr on the written descriptions of the murals.
Those descriptions have been used on site at the hospital, in print, and in numerous blogs about the project.

The Society of American Mosaic Artist’s (SAMA) member magazine (Groutline) recently published an article on the murals.

This article originally appeared as the cover story in Groutline, Summer 2010, the quarterly journal of the Society of American Mosaic Artists. Reprinted with permission.